monkey see, monkey do

it is amazing (and honestly also very frightening) to me how quickly children mimic others. i've always chuckled inside over the years at children repeating things i say frequently and copying the simple things i do as a caregiver every day. my son makes me spend a few moments putting extra thought into everything i do by copying my actions, especially those involved in our every day routines. he'll tell me to lay down and "nigh-night" while he sits besides the bed and reads me a story. i hadn't given a second thought to the amount of closeness he felt while i sat beside his bed and read to him. that day i did. The next day i read him a story snuggled in his bed with him. these moments won't last forever but i want the feelings he gets from them to be ever lasting.

i've always worked with children five and under and I think that because of that, i forget that children grow up and on some level (although thankfully not all levels) stop needing you. i have a live in reminder of that right now. my soon to be ten year old brother is living with us for the summer and i am reminded of how quickly children grow up when he says goodnight, walks away and shuts the door behind him .. when he takes off down the street on his bike .. and when he says, "yeah duh!" when i ask him a question i should apparently already know the answer to.

it's a different world beyond five.

trucks and babies

my son is very much a boy. it's all about trucks and tools and other things that go. it's also all about babies. he has always loved to pack around babies, care for babies, and of course, play trucks with his babies. when he was younger and just starting to be verbal, i watched in amazement as he "taught" baby sign language to his baby. "more" he would say as he touched the baby's hands together. while working on our deck this week, he zipped a baby into his jacket and packed it around while he dug and raked. last night at bed time he gathered up three of his babies, took them to his bed, tucked them in so carefully and patted their backs. so loving.

the moral of this story is ... buy your son a baby.

it won't make him less of a man.
it might even make him a better man.

Chalk Day

I was outside playing with a group of 2-5s yesterday afternoon and they drew a huge monster on the pavement with chalk. Another staff came outside and they announced that "we are drawing this huge monster so it can scare away our teacher and we can do whatever we want."

Love it!

what has your child taught you?

There's no better teacher in the world than a child. I have learned more from my son in the two years he's been a part of my world than I can ever imagine teaching him in his lifetime.


What has your child taught you?

boys will be boys

I have always cared for children of both genders and had an awareness of the difference between boys and girls. When I pursued my Early Childhood Education I was looking forward to truly understanding these differences, getting into the science of it. I was surprised and disappointed when this was not something that was addressed. I read snippets of information here and there over the years and then when I became pregnant and found out it was a boy, my desire to learn more became my pregnancy project. I ordered books online and began to read. I quickly felt like I understood gender differences better than I had in the past.

I had a day last week at the daycare where for the first few hours in the morning I had all girls in attendance. It was mellow and quiet and everyone was happily focused on self-initiated and self-directed play. It was peaceful. Needless to say it didn't stay that way. Which, before I learned about the science behind boys and before I was mom to a boy, I found very frustrating. I am quiet by nature and prefer a mellow and peaceful environment. Although it's still the type of environment I try to create both at daycare and at a home, I understand and appreciate that sometimes and occasionally more often than not, it just simply won't happen. Boys need that busy activity and the best thing I can do is encourage that and create opportunities for active learning every day.

I've also learned that it can be a simple adjustment. My son has a set of coloured sorting bowls and a variety of coloured vehicles. We have a similar set at the daycare with dinosaurs. The girls will set out the bowls, sit, and sort them gently and carefully by type or colour. A simple adjustment for the boys who find this challenging - set the bowls across the room or around a table so that they can continuously move while sorting; let them toss the items into the corresponding bowls rather than set them in; get involved and make mistakes so they can laugh and correct you :)

by definition, according to a 4 year old

The children were exploring the buckwheat in the tactile table and inevitably some ended up on the floor.
On their own accord, they grabbed the little brooms and dustpans and went to work cleaning it up.

One child says out loud, "This is embarassing."
Another child replied, "Embarassing? Embarassing is when you don't have clothes on at school."

snack time conversation

Two girls were sitting at the snack table, eating cereal mix and watermelon slices.
One girl takes a piece of watermelon from the bowl and says, "'There's water in there."
The other girl says, "Well, it is called watermelon."

article of interest

"Here's the deal: if you promise not to believe everything your child tells you about school, then I promise to not believe everything that your child tells me about home ... 

I work hard to make fair and equitable decisions but I have come to terms with knowing I can’t please everyone all of the time ... The best I can do is treat my students with dignity and respect, care for each of them, and have the best interest of every student in mind with every choice that I make.

If I remain true to the belief that each child deserves this fair treatment, then I will please myself and my conscience, and at the end of the day, I’m more than OK with that."

Read the whole article ...
http://www.parentscanada.com/learning/articles.aspx?listingid=908

i love my mom because she plays with me ...

I read a book with the children in the early weeks of May. It's title is I Love My Mom Because ...

As we read through the book the children smiled and agreed with the what the pages were saying; because she hugs me, because she holds my hand. But, when we got to the page that states, I love my mom because she plays with me, there was silence, pensive looks on the children's faces. Followed by responses such as "my mom doesn't play with me;" "my mom is too busy;" "my mom is too busy making dinner" ... then when the conversation petered out, I had a little boy say, "but my mom plays with me."
The way he said it, it almost didn't sound like he was sure he should share the information. It made me smile and broke my heart at the same time.

I do know that children's perceptions are not the carved in stone truth and I believe that each parent with a child in that group does in fact spend time playing with their child. But, what this conversation inspired me to do was give conscious thought at the end of each day to whether or not I played with the daycare children and with my own son. And I don't mean tickled and sang a song while I changed his diaper, read to him at bed time, or involved him in cooking with me. I mean truly took time from my day to devote whole heartily to play with him; zero distractions, truly present and engaged doing something that he chose to do. That's what those children were referring to.

I encourage every parent, regardless of the age of their child, to do the same.

Oh Technology

Had a computer crash. Finally have the new computer up and running. So many things to post! Will catch up soon. Keep checking in.

What's Your Mom's Name?

Ever asked 2, 3, and 4 years this question?

We were reading a book about why I love my mommy and then I needed to choose someone to blow out our story time candle so I said if your mom's name starts with an "S". They looked at me like I was crazy. So I went around the circle and asked the children what their mom's name was. Here were the responses ...

Child 1 - "Auntie Boo"
Child 2 & 3 - "Doctor"
Child 4 - "Mommy"
Child 5 -  "Well, my dad's name is *****"
Child 6 - "Mom is what I call her but her name is *****"

When I told them their mom's names, I received that same look as when I asked them who had a mom with an "S" name.

It was a great conversation about how everyone has a name and even though mom's are mom, they also have their own name just like us. I suppose I took it for grated that children would know their mom's name without hesitation because my son calls me/refers to me as Maggie frequently. That's what he has always heard from being around the daycare with me.

Advance apologies to those mom's who will now be beckoned by their first name :)

Thanks "T"

I have a child (previously in care) who is dropping in for a couple of weeks after school. He's in grade one now.

We had our ups and downs towards the end of the year in which he would begin kindergarten - he was outgrowing the program and with no other children his age enrolled at the time it was a challenge to meet his developmental needs without going far beyond the needs/level of readiness of the rest of the group. Naturally, this became very frustrating for him.

Today I met him at the door of the daycare and he was all out of breath. I said, "wow, did you run the whole way?" "Yep" he said, "do you want to know why?" I said, "sure." He said, "well, because then I have more time here."

Made my day.

(Note for his mom: I forgot to tell you. There was someone leaving with a stroller and very full hands when "T" arrived today and he opened the gate for her and waited to close it behind her. That made me smile too!)

Questions, Lots of Questions

I love how many questions children ask.
Note: when my child starts saying why? to everything I say, ask me if I still feel the same way.

I love how their questions involved a thought process my mind completely skips. I decided today was a good day for painting. I had purchased some glitter paint the other day with absolutely no intention on how, when, or what to use it for.

Today I put out paint with some of the glitter paint stirred in.

Child: "Maggie, why is there glitter in this paint?"
Me: "Well .. uhm ... uhm ... because I put it there."
Child: "Oh."

It was really that simple to me. I had truly given it no thought. When I went in the cupboard to get the paint I saw it there and added some in. Just because. I could tell from her response she was not satisfied with my answer; she already knew I put it there. I carried on ...

Me: "I thought maybe you would enjoy painting with glittery paint so I bought some glitter paint when I saw it at the store and today I mixed it in with our regular paint. It will make your picture shine and sparkle."

Child: "Yeah. I'm going to give this to my mom. I like glitter paint."

Much more satisfied. One of the many rewards of working with young children - they challenge you to think and explain rather than simply do.

a skipping rope? no, it's a ....

We recently did some organizing and rearranging of the outdoor toys at the daycare and the children have been re-discovery toys they had long forgotten we even had. The toy of the day today was a skipping rope. At least that's what I called it. To the children it was legs, a snake, a gas pump, christmas lights wrapped around a tree, a telephone, an ice cream cone, a microphone, a pully, letters, a horse lead ... you name it, they likely created it during our morning and afternoon outdoor time. That's one of my absolute favorite things about the minds of young children; that one object can be so many different things. Without any thought or hesitation. It just is. Because it can be. It's truly that simple. We should all be more like children. Well ... okay, more carefree, creative, and imaginative. But don't forget to make it look natural ;)

The things we miss ...

Living in a hurried world, we miss out on countless moments to just observe our children and truly value the learning that is occurring in even the most routine of tasks. Here's one of those moments.

We are unable to stop and view every moment objectively as the person who snapped this photo had the opportunity to do; but, isn't it a great reminder of what we would see if we only took one extra minute? A single moment full of concentration, thought, processing, and understanding.

Educator vs Parent

My son (24 months) and I had an evening alone last week ... we made dinner together, jammied him up, and headed out for a walk before bed. We listened to the birds, talked to a few dogs, saw a mini excavator (aka digger) and a fire truck. We live on a quiet street out of town so this was a very eventful evening. We returned home, played in the living room for a short while, and headed off to bed. I'll be honest and admit that I am not the bedtime person in our house so things started off a little shaky ... "Where's daddy?" "My want daddy." "Daddy, my want to come with you." We chatted about daddy's whereabouts and when he would be home. He rested his head. Then out of the corner of his eye he saw the eco made never played with fire engine on his shelf. Toddler made siren sounds followed. He began shuffling his way to the edge of his bed nodding yes (his way of asking permission to get off his bed). *Insert dilemma here* The parent thinks not a chance mister, it's bed time. The educator thinks teachable moment; what a great connection he made, can't waste the natural learning opportunity while consistency and follow through bells chimed in the back of my head. I compromised with myself and told him to stay on his bed and that I would bring the fire engine to him for a couple of minutes. Good, right? We talked about the fire truck and he told me about "outside. fire truck. go go." I felt confident in my decision to let the educator over rule the parent ...........  until I tried to take the fire truck away.


I used to feel offended when a parent with a child in my care would suggest that I didn't really understand because I wasn't a parent. I felt like I totally understood; I had completed years of education and knew all about child development, behaviour and guidance, health and safety. For the last two years I have gained an immense appreciation for what it was they meant. They never meant it negatively, it was just a simple fact. I truly didn't understand what it was like to feel parental guilt; to maintain consistency in parenting while juggling the demands of a career, relationship, and household; to make decisions for your child that you feel are right only to be judged by those who do not agree ... the list is neverending.

Happiness

It's an amazing thing to be surrounded by such joy and happiness.

Inspiration

The inspiration for this blog is fairly obvious ... it includes my own son as well as all of the children with whom I learn and am inspired by each day. Thank you to each of you for sharing your world with me.

Every day I reflect upon the moments that made me smile, the moments that challenged me, the moments that I wish others could have experienced, the moments I forgot to appreciate, and the moments I hope to always remember.

I hope through the use of this blog I can share those moments with you.